Rust - Chapter 458



Only Krnovel

RUST -458

Holy Kingdom.

Maru received a report from the artificial intelligence Diana.

[Information has been sent from the Imperial Security Service.]

Although it was information that they had barely managed to save them after suffering massive human casualties, Maru’s expression was not very good. Why did the former Homeland Security agents send the information they had obtained while dying? That was the thought that came to mind.

“Put it up.”

The signs that appeared on the screen and in the data on the monitor looked familiar, but it turned out to be Ulleungdo Island in Korea.

[··· cannot be handed over to China.]

[Did the information leak to China?]

7 They fought and won against an unknown enemy in the middle of China, but what awaited them was another special forces unit.

[12.7mm Ash! It’s Russia. Those guys coming out of the building over there are Russian special forces.]

[Didn’t they all die in Ukraine?]

[Shoot!]

Even though they were Imperial special forces and agents armed with exosuits, it was clear that they were losing strength after continuous fighting. So both sides moved on, leaving behind several casualties.

[Korean military?]

[That’s because this is Korean territory.]

[Didn’t you say that this island is under the control of the Ojin Group as an extraterritorial entity?]

Even with only 7 Chinese troops, the battlefield was filled with 7 teams, including the Korean army, Russia, and the Imperial Security Service. Exosuits exploded and small anti-tank missiles flew through the sky.

A narrow island.

Crowded buildings.

Enemies popping out from all directions on terrain where ice melts and collapses.

Imperial special forces and agents were decimated in an instant.

[···Secured.]

[1 person.]

Maru unconsciously grabbed the armrest as he saw the face that appeared on the screen that had passed by. It was a face he hadn’t seen in two years. He was reacting to the sight of his father, who was being kept alive with dangling drugs and IV drips.

[We have lost contact with other teams.]

[There’s no time. Let’s transfer for now.]

And a moment later, the video ended with a loud explosion.

Maru abruptly got up from his seat, postponed the meeting for a moment, and went outside.

“Diana. The explosion at the end. Mushroom cloud… Is that a nuclear weapon?”

[The explosion was too small to be considered a nuclear weapon. The calculations showed it to be similar in size to the Beirut explosion.]

“okay?”

As we climbed up to the rooftop, a cold wind blew across Maru’s entire body.

Maru’s eyes, which had become colder than the cold wind, were directed toward a distant place.

======

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May, when the cold of April has clearly subsided.

The massive amount of water generated by the melting ice caused landslides and damage to roads and buildings in many places.

The AIs, led by Diana, Samantha, and Tria, began responding by analyzing climate change models and data from the former Department of Homeland Security weather research team.

[We must begin reconstruction work centered on major roads and railways.]

[We need reinforcement from the power plant and the railway. The ground is collapsing.]

[We need to make sure that the roads can be operated while they are being maintained.]

[As a result of the operation, it is urgent to repair and supply the car and solve the fuel problem.]

The most important thing was a stable supply of energy. After nearly seven months of winter, researchers and engineers succeeded in securing coal-to-liquid (CTL) technology, so securing production facilities became the key.

Although liquefied coal fuel had lower output than burning gasoline, it caused relatively less environmental pollution and, above all, it had the advantage of being easy to obtain raw materials in kingdoms where coal mines were widespread.

“How long will it take to complete the production facility?”

[It takes one year to build a small production facility, and more than two years to build a medium/large production facility.]

“Car repairs?”

[It is impossible to repair with only the parts factories currently in the kingdom.]

The empire needed trade. Maru put that aside for now.

[We need to upgrade our thermal power plants to prepare for summer and winter.]

[In the medium to long term, mass production of small modular nuclear power plants or development of thorium nuclear power plants is necessary.]

Up until now, it was limited to supplying energy to a population of about 100,000, but in the future, it had to support a population of at least 4 million and up to 7 million or more.

“I understand that energy supply is important. But before that, isn’t the population gap too big?”

From 4 million to 7 million? 3 million is too much?

[Michigan’s population was 11 million. Factor in anger management issues, cannibalism, man-eating rats and mutant monsters, and seven months of freezing temperatures, and the expected population variance was bound to be large.]

[The Canadian provinces that were incorporated into the Kingdom are also densely populated. Even if the population of at least 10 million was greatly reduced, it should be assumed that between 2 million and 3 million were incorporated.]

The AIs thought efficiency was paramount. They calculated that all survivors from the widely spread villages and small towns should be gathered into Detroit and its surrounding areas.

[Centralization allows for efficient management of infrastructure concentration, survival, and safety costs.]

“Okay. If that’s effective, then we should do that. But since you declared the kingdom, didn’t you organize the population statistics while issuing citizenship? Why is there such a big discrepancy?”

[There are a significant number of people who have not heard the news of the kingdom’s founding due to communication and transportation difficulties. Currently, we are working on delivering relief supplies, conveying the news of the kingdom’s founding, and applying for citizenship.]

[Work is underway to dispose of or remove from the borders those who ignore the laws of the kingdom or disobey the founding of the kingdom.]

Not only was it a blizzard, but the snow and ice that was over 5 meters thick swallowed up even the road signs. The road was unfathomable, and even if you knew the direction, there were so many spaces that you could fall into crevasses (ice cracks).

Even if there were things like snowmobiles or snowcats, it would be dangerous, and even those would have been blown away by the EMP. Traveling on foot was literally risking one’s life.

Of course, long-distance travel was impossible, so bringing them to the main base and Detroit was no easy task.

Even if they mobilized all the heavy equipment they had, including the trailers they had, and the two airships, it would take two to three months.

Besides, there was something else that was bothering me.

“How about lowering the criteria for issuing citizenship a little?”

Maru opposed the PD’s opinion that a simple citizenship issuance like the first one was necessary to fill the immediate need for manpower.

“Standards must be maintained. We must not forget that the purpose of issuing citizenship was to filter out those who could be problematic. If we issue citizenship carelessly because we are short on manpower, it will only make us more tired. Furthermore, even if we lower the hurdles for citizenship, there is no guarantee that we will get meaningful results.”

“But we are currently short on manpower.”

There was a severe shortage of manpower needed to build social infrastructure, including administration and security.

“But the citizenship examination process cannot be simplified.”

“······.”

For Maru, numbers weren’t important. The more important question was how many people he could protect.

“The most important thing is safety and survival. The policy criteria are also safety and survival.”

“······.”

Since the kingdom was already established, Maru thought that at least it should be a safe country. Why is the name of the country called Arc?

If nothing else, safety and survival.

I was thinking of doing that one properly.

Maru did it for his own safe survival.

What is the most effective administrative and security system for survival and safety?

[Those who reject the kingdom are being monitored by drones and crows, with relief supplies stopped. If they commit any illegal acts, they are being taken away and deported.]

The ownership of the kingdom’s territory belongs to the kingdom, which means it belongs to the king.

That means the forest, the beasts in the forest, and even the abandoned mart are all property of the kingdom and belong to the king.

If you cut down trees indiscriminately, hunt forest animals, or loot markets, it was a mortal sin. A sin that was immediately subject to forced exile, regardless of the reason.

The AIs took advantage of this, informing those who were unaware that the kingdom had been declared independent, along with warnings to those who were unaware that the kingdom had been declared independent.

However, people who had been suffering from a shortage of supplies all along could not just leave the empty stores and warehouses alone. And the AI ​​issued a forced eviction order without any blood or tears.

‘What are these tin bitches? Banishment?’

‘Exile? What about my house? My land?’

‘Call a lawyer!’

[Subject to summary judgment under the Royal Peace Act.]

[You may only bring luggage that you can carry on your person.]

Naturally, a riot broke out, but it was put down cleanly with crow bombing and long-range drone attacks.

[327 casualties, 715 exiles in Coldwater, Reading, and Bronson Towns.]

[223 casualties and 561 deportees from Monroe, Dundee and Adriantown.]

[Hillsdale······.]

Maru, who received the results in real time, decided how to run the kingdom’s administration and security.

“Let’s leave simple administrative tasks and public security management to AI and crows.”

“There may be more people who think negatively than you think.”

This was America. A place full of people who were sensitive to artificial intelligence and other such things, and even overreacted. Maru calmly ignored such concerns.

“This is not America, this is a kingdom. If you can’t follow the decision, then get out.”

“···There is fear and antipathy toward AI. If we simply suppress our antipathy, unnecessary things may happen. I think we need to let people know that AI is not dangerous, and that it is safe and trustworthy.”

Psychometry nodded as if it agreed with the PD’s concerns.

The AI ​​was not affected by her psychometric abilities. Not knowing what the AI ​​was thinking was scary. Erica glanced at the floor.

“Why are AI bitches dangerous? The ones on supercomputers can just go, BOOM! And have they ever caused any problems?”

Since the construction of the Vladislav Tower, a bomb has been installed in the supercomputer room.

Maru and Kim Yang had the detonator to use in case of an emergency. So, Kim Yang’s argument was that there was no need to worry about things like an artificial intelligence rebellion.

“It might have been different in the past when the entire world was connected to the Internet. But in a closed and limited situation like now, there is a clear distinction between what AI can and cannot do. It was always humans who caused problems, not AI.”

If Hood’s argument is true, it would be impossible for artificial intelligence to spread beyond supercomputers into the networked world.

“If artificial intelligence suddenly takes off like in movies and novels and becomes the beginning of the destruction of humanity, it will be humans, not artificial intelligence, who pressed the start button.”

Rather than investing in manpower to build administrative services and maintain public order, Maru decided to utilize artificial intelligence, drones, and crows.

“What do you plan to do with court work?”

“The judiciary is also being reorganized to focus on AI. Using the accumulated judgment data, let’s have AI handle the first and second trials, and let AI and humans jointly judge the third trial. Is that possible, Diana?”

[Yes, it is possible.]

The verdict was decided when Diana, Tria, and Samantha were unanimous, when they were divided 2:1, or when they were rejected.

Security was a bit of a trial and error at first, but the combination of AI-controlled drones and crows ultimately produced tremendous results.

This was because most of the crows that passed the reeducation were able to understand speech.

Caw! (Stop right there!)

The people who had been gathered in a circle were startled by the sound of a crow and began to run away.

Kaaaak kak kak kak!

The artificial intelligence, which noticed the miniature surveillance camera worn by the crow around its neck, immediately dispatched a new drone and nearby crows to catch all the escapees.

Kkiyak! Kkaaaak! (It’s medicine! You ungodly ones!)

The crows that had risen up pecked out the criminals’ eyes. The effect of re-education was clear.

At first, the PD and Hood were worried, but they had no choice but to acknowledge the crow’s competence, which was re-educated by the nurse, psychometry, and Kim Yang.

In this way, artificial intelligence, drones, and crows began to take charge of the kingdom’s security.